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Mariners agree to deals with Morales, Ryan

Hot Stove looks at Jason Vargas' numbers away from Safeco Field and predicts how Kendrys Morales will do in a pitcher-friendly ballpark

By Greg Johns
/
MLB.com |

SEATTLE -- Kendrys Morales and Brendan Ryan came to one-year contract agreements with the Mariners on Friday to avoid arbitration, leaving reliever Shawn Kelley as the only unsigned player on the 40-man roster.

Morales signed for $5.25 million, plus possible performance bonuses, according to Jon Heyman of CBSsports.com. The slugger earned $2.975 million last year with the Angels.

Ryan signed for $3.25 million after making $1.75 million last year.

The Mariners exchanged salary figures with Kelley at Friday's filing deadline, in accordance with Major League Baseball's collective bargaining agreement. According to CBSsports.com, Kelley asked for $1.2 million and the Mariners offered $750,000.

If the two sides don't reach agreement in the coming days, Kelley will go to a hearing in which a three-member arbitration panel chooses either the salary number he and his agent submitted Friday, or the lower figure submitted by the team.

Binding arbitration hearings take place from Feb. 4-20. The Mariners haven't had a player go to an arbitration hearing since Freddy Garcia in 2003.

Kelley, 28, earned $600,000 last year in his first year of arbitration-eligibility as a Super Two qualifier. He pitched 47 games for Seattle, going 2-4 with a 3.25 ERA in 44 1/3 innings over three stints with the club.

Kelley also made 14 appearances for Triple-A Tacoma, going 2-0 with a 0.90 ERA in 20 innings.

Morales and Ryan agreed to deals prior to Friday's arbitration deadline. Both are in their third and final seasons of arbitration-eligibility and will be free agents at the end of the coming season.

Morales, 29, was acquired from the Angels in a trade for Jason Vargas last month. He hit .273 with 22 home runs and 73 RBIs in 134 games after coming back from a fractured left leg that wiped out much of his 2010 season and all of 2011.

Ryan, 30, hit just .194 in 141 games, but he was regarded as one of the premier defenders in baseball. Over the past two seasons, he has led all Major League position players in defensive runs saved. Ryan won a Fielding Bible Award for the best shortstop in the Majors last year, and he finished second to Angels center fielder Mike Trout in ESPN.com's voting for Defensive Player of the Year.